USELESS
useless
(adjective) having no beneficial use or incapable of functioning usefully; “a kitchen full of useless gadgets”; “she is useless in an emergency”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Adjective
useless (comparative more useless or uselesser, superlative most useless or uselessest)
Without use or possibility to be used.
Unhelpful, not useful; pointless (of an action).
(pejorative, of a person) Good-for-nothing; not dependable.
(colloquial, of a person) Unable to do well at a particular task or thing. Useless is mildly insulting.
Synonyms
• (good-for-nothing): good-for-nothing
• (unable to do well): unskillful
Antonyms
• skillful, useful
Source: Wiktionary
Use"less, a.
Definition: Having, or being of, no use; unserviceable; producing no good
end; answering no valuable purpose; not advancing the end proposed;
unprofitable; ineffectual; as, a useless garment; useless pity.
Not to sit idle with so great a gift Useless, and thence ridiculous.
Milton.
Syn.
– Fruitless; ineffectual.
– Useless, Fruitless, Ineffectual. We speak of an attempt, effort,
etc., as being useless when there are in it inherent difficulties
which forbid the hope of success, as fruitless when it fails, not
from any such difficulties, but from some unexpected hindrance
arising to frustrate it; as, the design was rendered fruitless by the
death of its projector. Ineffectual nearly resembles fruitless, but
implies a failure of a less hopeless character; as, after several
ineffectual efforts, I at last succeeded.
Useless are all words Till you have writ "performance" with your
swords. The other is for waiving. Beau. & Fl.
Waiving all searches into antiquity, in relation to this controversy,
as being either needless or fruitless. Waterland.
Even our blessed Savior's preaching, who spake as never man spake,
was ineffectual to many. Bp. Stillingfleet.
– Use"less*ly, adv.
– Use"less*ness, n.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition